1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cotton harvesters such as cotton strippers, and, more specifically, to an improved row unit for such a harvester.
2) Related Art
Presently available cotton strippers such as the John Deere Model 7445 Cotton Stripper include individual row units supported forwardly of a cross-auger frame. Cotton along with cotton stalks and other debris is swept from the row-receiving area by a pair of brush rolls supported on either side of the row of cotton and angling upwardly in the rearward direction. An auger supported above a rounded auger housing outwardly of each of the brush rolls conveys the material rearwardly to the cross auger. The row unit auger shafts are gear driven, and the axes of the brush roll shafts run at an angle to the axes of the auger shafts. The angled shafts cause point contact on the gear teeth and increased noise and wear. With as many as six units running simultaneously, the noise level can be relatively high.
The row unit width in conventional strippers approaches the minimum row spacing in narrow row cotton so that access to the units for servicing is limited. Providing a narrow stripper unit which still has good picking efficiency, minimal cotton loss, and access to the brush roll and conveyor areas for servicing and clearing blockages has been a continuing source of difficulty.
The typical stripper row unit housing includes a painted metal cover which encloses the brush rolls and auger. The cover, fabricated from several pieces of sheet metal, is expensive to manufacture and tends to lose paint where contacted by the cotton plants. The cover has a flat top, and loose cotton can bounce off the top and be lost as the plants enter the row-receiving area. In tall cotton, the upper part of the cotton plant bunches up at upper areas of the stripper brush rolls, and as a result, stripping efficiency is reduced. Removal of the metal cover from the housing to access the strip roll and conveyor areas is difficult and time consuming, in part because of the weight of the metal cover and the need to remove numerous fasteners. The metal cover tends to rattle on its supports and increases the noise level of the row unit.